As the 140 days of the regular session draw near an end, a variety of deadlines, rules, and legislative procedures begin to play a larger role in the legislative process.

Deadlines

With just three weeks remaining in the session, a series of deadlines will begin to affect the legislative process. The end of session deadlines are set in the House and Senate rules.

This week, Thursday May 12 is the last day for the House to consider second reading House bills and House joint resolutions on the Daily or Supplemental Calendar; Friday, May 13 is the last day for the House to consider consent House Bills on second reading and all third reading House bills and House joint resolutions on the supplemental calendar.

Other significant dates and deadlines can be found on the Texas Legislative Council's Dates of Interest page.

Exceptional votes

While many issues are decided in the Legislature by a simple majority vote, the Texas Constitution and the House and Senate rules include provisions for situations which require a supermajority. Exceptional votes may require approval by a certain fraction of the members present and voting on a particular question or it may require approval by a portion of all members eligible to vote, whether or not they are present.

Introduce bills and joint resolutions, except local bills, emergency appropriations, and emergency matters submitted by the governor, after the first 60 days of a session Constitution III, § 5 and Senate rule 7.07

The use of a blocker bill is a tradition in the Texas Senate. Blocker bills are bills that are introduced and passed out of committee as early as possible in a legislative session in order that they may occupy the first position on the calendar.

Senate rule 5.13 provides: "No bill, joint resolution, or resolution affecting state policy may be considered out of its regular calendar order unless the regular order is suspended by a vote of two-thirds of the members present."

With a blocker bill at the top of the regular order of business, at least two-thirds of the senators present must vote to begin debating a measure before it can come to the floor. Bills that do not enjoy substantial support cannot make it past the blocker bill.

Wednesday and Thursday are designated House bill days in the Senate and on these days a House bill is found at the top of the calendar; there is no permanent blocker bill for House bills on a House bill day. The Senate may continue to bring bills up for consideration out of the regular order of business, in which case the House bill at the top of the calendar may serve as a temporary blocker bill for House bills. If the House bill at the top of the calendar comes up for consideration during the course of the day, the next bill on the calendar may in turn be treated as a blocker bill.

This entry was posted on May 10, 2011 at 1:06 PM and has received 1840 views.
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